In a new Eastern District of Texas complaint, Telcom Ventures LLC has accused Samsung (2:24-cv-00691) of infringing eight patents that name as an inventor Rajendra (“Raj”) Singh, the plaintiff’s CEO. Telcom Ventures targets Samsung over the provision of Samsung Pay and various Samsung smartphones that support it, as used together to make mobile payments using biometric authentication and either near-field communication (NFC) or magnetic secure transmission (MST) technologies.

A couple of weeks ago, RPX noted “A Trio of Patent Transfers Worth Watching” (July 2024), which turned out to be fairly accurate, as two of the recipients—Cloud BYTE LLC (see here) and Light Guide Innovations LLC (see here)—have each launched litigation over their received assets. The third transfer from that article could also lead to litigation, as might this week’s highlighted transaction, from Orange to Transpacific IP Group Limited. In addition, two other sets of recorded assignments suggest that additional litigation might be coming, one from a party already involved in a case and one from a party that has yet to file suit.

Roughly 18 months after its case against Walmart ended in a pretrial settlement, Mobile Equity Corp. has filed suit against Exxon Mobile (2:24-cv-00641) over the same two mobile payment patents. In the new Eastern District of Texas complaint, the plaintiff targets the provision of Exxon Pay, pleading that during the prior case, “the patent eligibility of the Asserted Patents was confirmed”, and “the validity of the Asserted Patents was also confirmed by a written denial of institution of Inter Partes Reexamination at the US Patent Trial and Appeal Board and Walmart’s withdrawal of its defense challenging validity prior to trial”.

A new litigation campaign, filed by Texas plaintiff Amadora Systems, LLC, focuses on the alleged infringement of three patents generally related to capturing and processing a photo or video of an individual when conducting a transaction. Targeted in ten Eastern District of Texas complaints are Austin Bancorp (2:24-cv-00612), Bank OZK (2:24-cv-00615), BOK Financial (Bank of Texas) (2:24-cv-00614), Cullen/Frost Bankers (Frost Bank) (2:24-cv-00616), JPMorgan Chase (2:24-cv-00609), Regions Financial (Regions Bank) (2:24-cv-00618), Texas Bank and Trust (2:24-cv-00619), Texas National Bancorporation (Texas National Bank of Jacksonville) (2:24-cv-00620), Truist Financial (Truist Bank) (2:24-cv-00621), and VeraBank NA (2:24-cv-00622), each over the provision or use of ATM machines that include certain audio and/or video security surveillance systems.

Costco (2:24-cv-00546), Kroger (2:24-cv-00548), Shell (Equilion Enterprises, Shell Information Technology International) (2:24-cv-00549), Starbucks (2:24-cv-00550), Volkswagen (2:24-cv-00575) and Walmart (2:24-cv-00551) are the latest defendants to be sued in the August 2020 litigation campaign launched by inventor-backed RFCyber Corp. In the new Eastern District of Texas complaints, the plaintiff asserts three patents, which generally relate to contactless financial transactions with a mobile device over a network, in overlapping sets. The defendants are accused of infringement over the support for contactless payment functionalities in their various products; for Volkswagen, over its automobiles (and related software); and for the remaining defendants, over their respective mobile apps.

When the litigation campaign of Torus Ventures LLC paused in September 2022, seven defendants had been sued. As of last Friday, though, that number has nearly quintupled, Torus having filed separate Eastern District of Texas complaints against A-Max Auto Insurance Agencies (2:24-cv-00498), AffordaCare Insurance Agency (2:24-cv-00501), AFNB Holdings (American First National Bank) (2:24-cv-00530), Agentra Solutions (2:24-cv-00502), Agility Bank National Association (2:24-cv-00503), Al Boenker Insurance Agency (2:24-cv-00508), AI United (2:24-cv-00506), Aimbridge Hospitality (2:24-cv-00507), Allcat Claims Service (2:24-cv-00509), Amarillo National Bank (2:24-cv-00513), American Bank Holding (2:24-cv-00514), American Contractors Insurance Group (2:24-cv-00516), Anco Insurance Managers (2:24-cv-00519), Association Member Benefits Advisors (2:24-cv-00520), Assurant (American Financial & Automotive Services) (2:24-cv-00517), Austin Bank Texas National Association (2:24-cv-00521), Aspen Insurance Holdings (AgriLogic Consulting) (2:24-cv-00505), Automobile Club of Southern California (AAA Texas) (2:24-cv-00499), Azuma Leasing (2:24-cv-00522), Behringer Harvard Real Estate Services (2:24-cv-00526), Boon-Chapman Benefit Administrators (2:24-cv-00527), Brady, Chapman, Holland & Associates (2:24-cv-00528), Brightline Dealer Advisors (2:24-cv-00529), H.U. Group Holdings (Baylor Miraca Genetics Laboratories) (2:24-cv-00523), and Spend Life Wisely (American National Bank of Texas) (2:24-cv-00518). Each defendant is targeted with a single patent over its website’s support of the TLS 1.3 security protocol.

Factor2 Multimedia Systems, LLC has filed a Western District of Texas complaint against Early Warning Services and six financial institutions alleged to own it: Bank of America, Capital One Financial, JP Morgan Chase, PNC Financial Services Group, Truist Financial, and US Bancorp (6:24-cv-00362). The plaintiff targets the use of two-factor authentication within the Zelle mobile payment system and related websites and applications, Factor2 asserting the same six authentication patents already appearing in the campaign, in overlapping sets, against prior defendants ByteDance (TikTok), Amazon, Snap, Regions Financial, Comerica, Texas Capital Bancshares, and Washington Federal Bank, sued in that order since January 2024.

After more than a year without new cases filed, Auth Token LLC has fired off another round of complaints, this time suing ADP (6:24-cv-00251) and seven banks: Austin Bank (2:24-cv-00354), Broadway Bancshares (6:24-cv-00253), Cadence Bank (2:24-cv-00355), Comerica (Comerica Bank) (2:24-cv-00356), Guaranty Bank & Trust (2:24-cv-00357), Home Bank (4:24-cv-01790), and Texas Capital Bancshares (2:24-cv-00358). In this campaign, the plaintiff targets the provision of financial products (e.g., payment cards) that support the EMV Card Personalization specification, with former Prism Technologies Group, Inc. patents generally related to “personalizing an authentication token”.

DigitalDoors, Inc. has filed another round of Eastern District of Texas complaints, hitting Cadence Bank National Association (2:24-cv-00311), Cathay General Bancorp (Cathay Bank) (2:24-cv-00312), Cullen/Frost Bankers (Frost Bank) (2:24-cv-00315), First Horizon (First Horizon Bank) and Iberia Bank (2:24-cv-00313), First National Bank of Nebraska (First National Bank (Omaha)) (2:24-cv-00314), Origin Bancorp (Origin Bank) (2:24-cv-00316), PNC Financial Services (PNC Bank National Association) (2:24-cv-00317), Simmons First National (Simmons Bank) (2:24-cv-00319), UMB Financial (UMB Bank NA) (2:24-cv-00320), and Wells Fargo (2:24-cv-00310). The financial institution defendants are targeted over the use of data processing systems compliant with the Sheltered Harbor specification, or those that otherwise “provide substantially equivalent functionality” for “providing data backup of critical customer account data” based on certain content filters, allegedly as claimed in the asserted four patents.

In a new Eastern District of Texas complaint, Viewlogic Wireless LLC has accused Comerica (Comerica Bank) (2:24-cv-00200) of infringing four patents broadly directed to recognizing and tagging objects in images and video on a mobile device. The patents belong to a larger portfolio once held by “IP Holdings”, other members of which are already in litigation, this Delaware plaintiff targeting the provision of mobile check deposit features (“Click&Capture Deposit”) within the Comerica Mobile Banking app.